Monitoring EU support to public health institutes
The overall objective of the Supporting Public Health Institutes Program (SPHIP) was to strengthen the expertise, knowledge and resources of selected schools of public health, public health research institutes or training institutes in low-income countries. This enhancement, in turn, was to provide national health authorities and stakeholders with evidence-based and locally appropriate policy advice, training and other support to inform decision and policy making and to monitor implementation at the national or subnational level. Under SPHIP, eight projects were selected in Bangladesh, Burundi, DR Congo, Haiti, Kenya, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Uganda. GFA was contracted by the European Commission to assist Unit B4 of DG DEVCO to comprehensively monitor the implementation of SPHIP, to increase the overall coherence, efficiency and visibility of the individual projects in different countries, and to guide and plan the evolution of the program into a possible second phase.
In addition to advising the Commission services, the consultant team interacted closely and regularly with the implementing public health institutes, sharing their observations and drafting recommendations with them in order to cross-check observations and perceptions, obtain relevant comments, and prepare the public health institutes for any subsequent follow-up by the client. There was an effective balance between the functions of monitoring the implementation of SPHIP and providing support and advice to the public health institutes, while fully respecting the contract management responsibilities of the contracting authority.
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